Photos taken at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Cosan Glas Loinnir (Light) sculpture trail, Tory Island, and the Grianan of Aileach.
Brother Eric New, Alpha Tau/Ohio 2015, has been studying abroad this summer in Ireland as part of the "Documentary and Storytelling in Ireland" program. I recently reached out to Brother New to share information about his experiences studying abroad. Brother New also shared several photos taken on his travels through "the Emerald Isle."
Ireland has been beautiful! We've been staying in Letterkenny located in County Donegal, one of the most naturally beautiful counties left in Ireland, for about six weeks. This actually our last week in Ireland before heading back to the states.
Our program is called "Documentary and Storytelling in Ireland." Our group researches different topics and gathers interviews and audio and visual components to put into a visual representation of what our documentary would look like if we made it. We also spent a lot of time volunteering for the Erigal Arts Festival and saw a lot of awesome performances by bands and folksingers.
Our learning experience hasn't been too different from back in the U.S. We've been attending classes with our professor from Ohio University and learning about the documentary making process. We've met a lot of prominent movie makers from Ireland who have given us a lot of advice as well.
Compared to the U.S. I've noticed that the food is really different and even healthier than in America. Most food is grown locally, and the locals prefer to buy locally grown food rather than food that's been mass produced elsewhere. The fish and chips here are just as good as I've heard. They actually have a lot of "American food" themed restaurants here which I found amusing.
We're also so far up North that the sky never gets as dark as it does in Ohio. The sun will go down around 10, 10:30 at night and it starts to get bright around 4:30, 5 am and rises around 5:30. The people here are also very friendly and have been very kind to us.
I haven't actually had any problems understanding people speak despite the accent and how fast people speak some times.
While most of our time was in Letterkenny, we spent some time traveling all around the county. One of the first weekends here we met a local sculptor who took us to see the Grianan of Aileach, one of the earliest churches of St.Patrick with over 3000 years of history. We could see all over County Donegal from the top row of the Aileach. It was breathtaking. We went to Dublin for a weekend and had a blast sightseeing. We went to Tory Island for the weekend and listened and danced to very traditional Irish music. Tory Island was extremely beautiful. The cliffs there are breathtaking. I climbed up and down every cliff and stood on the edge overlooking the ocean and screamed at the top of my lungs!
Overall Ireland is an extremely beautiful country and the people have been more than welcoming.
Thanks for sharing, Brother New! Enjoy the rest of your experience and safe travels!